Committee Members

Frances Wintour

Hello my name is Fran Wintour, I'm 36, married to Matt and have two gorgeous boys, Harry aged 5 and Joseph 4 months old.

When my first son Harry was born, we were overwhelmed with happiness and joy. He looked and was perfect. Our shock came when we took him to our doctor for his 8 week check. We were told Harry had a heart murmur, which we later found out he had a large VSD and would need surgery to repair it. We felt completely numb and our lives were thrown into turmoil.

Harry went on to have successful surgery when he was 6 months and we have never looked back, in fact we couldn't believe how 'normal' he was after everything he had been through, it was amazing.

I felt I wanted to give something back so I decided to become a committee member for Echo. I have met some amazing people through Echo and feel like I have a second family.

My role within Echo is to support other parents of heart children. I am a pre-natel support contact providing telephone support to parents whose unborn child has been diagnosed with a heart defect. I am also the Kent area contact providing telephone support to parents of heart children.

prenatalsupport@echo-evelina.org.uk

Saleha Kabir

I joined ECHO in 2005 after the birth of my son, who was born with truncus arteriosus. I was given the diagnosis prenatally and met with Jo at one of the fabulous antenatal days they help run at St Thomas' hospital. In the last few years I have become a little more involved with ECHO, helping out on some of the antenatal days myself and joining the committee last year. Hopefully all of our joint experiences, and the added fact that I am an 'old' heart baby myself, will give other parents the courage and confidence that there are people out there who not only care, but actually understand too.

I'd love to hear from any parents who'd like a chat or have any questions about growing up with Fallot's.

sal@echo-evelina.org.uk

Shelley Rawes

Hi I am Shelley Rawes. I have only recently become involved with echo. I have a daugther that was born with Fallots Tetralogy. I decided that I wanted to join echo because I wanted to try and give something back after all the help we received while my daugther went through her treatment. I am glad I have, as I have met some really nice people through the charity & also met people in the same situation, as myself.

shelley@echo-evelina.org.uk

Barbara Squires

I'm Barbara Squires and I've been involved with Echo for over 10 years, as a Local Area Contact for Kent and now as a Committee Member!

It's been wonderful to see the Charity go from strength to strength during this time; ECHO was there for me when I needed help and it's so rewarding to be involved with such a great support group and a lovely bunch of people. I've enjoyed helping to organise social events and recently held my own Valentine Ball to raise money for ECHO, which was great fun!

My son, Matthew, is now in his teens and as our concerns are changing over the years, it's good to see ECHO evolving and addressing these too.

barbara@echo-evelina.org.uk

Grant Taylor

I joined the ECHO team in June 2008 and aim to make a real contribution to the future development of the organisation. Charlie my son was born in 2006 with a coarctation of the aorta and a large ventricular sceptal defect. He has suffered from feeding issues from birth and has been tube fed for much of his life, although a gastrostomy has been wonderful for him and his development. He also has a pacemaker. He is doing wonderfully well now and to look at him you would never know what he has been through. Everybody involved with the Evelina Children's Hospital has been amazing and this is my way of giving time to say thank you and help others.

My background is in executive recruitment and I lead a team of consultants who headhunt people for senior appointments in the public and charity sectors. I have experience of HR consulting with organisations at board level to help them define appropriate structures and resourcing strategies to make the best executive and non-executive appointments that they can. I hope that this professional experience, my business experience as a senior manager within a company turning over in excess of £130m, and my networks, will help me contribute effectively to the ECHO team as we develop and deliver ECHO's mission, aims and objectives.

grant@echo-evelina.org.uk

Catriona Moore

I joined ECHO in 2007 shortly after my second daughter, Amy, was diagnosed prenatally with AVSD. It is hard to describe how much of a shock the diagnosis is - when you already have a healthy child, it's easy to become a bit blasé about the real purpose of scans.

Both before and after a heart-baby is born, no matter how good the medical team you are attached to, it can feel like good information is hard to come by. ECHO members I met were a lifeline when it came to understanding not only the medical process but living with your baby day to day.

With a career background in health and social care policy, I became involved with ECHO because I knew what had helped us, and wanted to help provide that support for other people in the same position.

catriona@echo-evelina.org.uk

Alex Bicknell

Hi everyone, I'm Alex and I am the new Youth Worker for Echo Teen Club (ETC). I'm 26, I work in finance and live in central London. I enjoy tennis, badminton, going to the cinema and, of course, meeting new people!

Since 13 years old, I have had 4 heart surgeries so I can hopefully understand some of the difficulties and worries that all teenagers inevitably have about Congenital Heart Disease. Perhaps, it is about going away without your parents and are worried about your medication, how other kids may see you or even have questions about an operation that you might have to have soon. I may not have every answer, but I can provide some advice, support or at the very least, point you in the right direction for advice.

If you have any thoughts on what you would like to do with ETC, please let me know. Perhaps PGL weekend away, cinema, bowling, ice-skating??? All ideas welcome :)

I would really like to hear from all of you, so please send me an email and let me know a bit about you. I am always open to new ideas.

alex@echo-teen-club.org.uk